Official: School illegally moved medical marijuana plants

March 06, 2019 - 3:00 PM

BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana State University's Agricultural Center and its medical marijuana growing partner illegally moved their cannabis crop into the school's primary growing facility, a state official said.

The centre and its private partner GB Sciences violated state law when they moved the crop, news outlets quoted state Agriculture and Forestry Department Commissioner Mike Strain as saying.

Strain's agency sent an inspector to the site on Monday to verify that the college and its private partner had begun moving the plants, the outlets reported.

LSU AgCenter Coordinator Ashley Mullens responded to the charges in a letter, saying the state medical marijuana program director had granted permission to move the plants. AgCenter officials have said the plants would die if not moved into the main facility from a temporary growing pod.

Strain said he wouldn't seek to seize the plants before the situation could be addressed in a court hearing.

Ongoing disputes over regulating medical marijuana have delayed it from being available to patients, although it's been legal in Louisiana for years. LSU's AgCenter and a centre at Southern University are the only two licensed growers in the state.